How to make a great trailer (and make more sales)

You probably have a short attention span. It’s nothing personal, it’s simply the bane of the Internet generation, and living in a world where there’s way too much to read, watch, or hear at any given time. For instance, with so many excellent short videos out there, no one seems to have time to watch a three-hour long silent movie anymore. In fact, you’ve probably stopped reading this blog post by now.

But if you’re still with me, I’ll share some common trailer pitfalls, along with tips to help you make your teaser or trailer work better for you, especially when selling with Vimeo On Demand.

Your trailer is an ad for your movie. It’s one of the best means you have to pique people’s interest and convince them to purchase your work.

On Vimeo On Demand, an average of 3.2% of people who view trailers end up making a purchase.

But when a trailer is doing its job well, that purchase rate soars, and we see a huge number of trailers driving purchases at rates of 12% or higher. Allow me to elaborate…

Lesson 1: You need a cliffhanger

We’ve all seen trailers that pretty much give away the entire movie. Pro tip: don’t do this.

The best trailers introduce you to the main characters, then set up the central conflict of the film, and end on a major cliffhanger. If you do this successfully, you’ve created empathy for your character and viewers will be dying to see how he or she gets through the conflict.

For documentaries, the approach is similar, but you may focus on a particular topic rather than a main character. If you’re promoting an educational video, your cliffhanger might be explaining what will be in the video, along with the style and sources of information.

Above all else, a viewer needs to be intrigued by the end of the trailer and think, “Whoa. I need to see that.”

Lesson 2: No one reads logos or credits

The logo of the distributor or production company doesn’t really need to be in the trailer, and it certainly shouldn’t be the first thing on the screen. Online trailers should be quick and snappy and end fairly abruptly, to keep people intrigued. If someone is scrolling through a feed on Vimeo or Facebook, you need to engage the viewer within a couple seconds. Keep your trailer short by cutting out all unnecessary information. One exception is if the company has a large following, as in this example:

Lesson 3: Aaaaaand action!

You should be using your trailer to get viewers to take action, e.g., purchase your movie, sign up to your mailing list, etc. Vimeo On Demand, for instance, automatically loads a buy button immediately after the last frame of your video. If you haven’t yet made your video available for purchase, try using this space to encourage mailing list signups instead. Rather than give viewers an opportunity to abandon before the buttons appear, go straight from the cliffhanger into your call-to-action. Avoid extended credits and black frames at all costs..

Take a look at how Griffin Hammond closes this trailer quickly with an effective end card:

There isn’t a single wasted second in the 73-second running time, and the final frame is designed to emphasize the Vimeo buy buttons in the middle of a word cloud of praise.

Lesson 4: use great quotes!

What makes you want to buy something? Did I hear you say: “a recommendation?” Right answer! While word-of-mouth recommendations from friends are the best, a good review from a favorite publication can be just as convincing to potential viewers. There’s a reason that Hollywood puts press quotes in trailers and on posters. You should, too.

Every time you get a new review or great comment, update your trailer to include the freshest quotes possible. If your film doesn’t have any press reviews yet, quote your fans instead.

Pro tip: don’t put a quote on the screen at the same time as someone speaking. You need the quote to stand out, and it’s very hard to read and listen at the same time. Not to mention that it’s very hard to subtitle both talking and on-screen text at the same time.

Lesson 5: Don’t put a URL in your trailer

If your trailer is on Vimeo On Demand, it will display a buy button no matter where it’s shared — there’s no need to put a URL in your trailer’s end card. An end card that says: “go to http://website.com to see it” could be confusing since there’s going to be a buy button right on top in a split second. You want people to click that button, not think, “oh, I need to type that URL.” Instead, pull a Griffin and make an awesome end card designed especially for Vimeo On Demand:

Lesson 6: One Vimeo player to rule them all

Keep control of your trailer and only have one clip page on Vimeo. When you’re in the audience-building phase and your film is not yet for sale, upload your trailer to Vimeo and set up an outro link to your website or mailing list sign-up form.

Then when you get ready to sell on Vimeo On Demand, don’t re-upload your trailer. If it has changed, use the “replace video” feature to upload a fresher, cooler version any time. Your trailer will be automatically updated wherever it’s been shared online. Then when you are setting up your Vimeo On Demand page, just connect your existing trailer, and you’ll instantly turn any existing shares into storefronts for your film. If you haven’t read it already, go back to our case study on Everybody Street for more about this.

Lesson 7: Use teasers AND trailers

A teaser is a shorter cut of your trailer that can be used to generate interest in your film.

You can also release teasers over time to keep people engaged.

Check out this teaser for Everything Before Us. It’s only 30 seconds long and quickly gets the essential information across. Oh, and you may have noticed they’ve got the company name in here, which in this case is great, because Wong Fu Productions has a huge fanbase, so Wong Fu is an important sales driver.

Teasers work great on Facebook with the call-to-action button, giving viewers a quick taste and an easy link to see more. When you click through to the Vimeo On Demand page, you can see the full trailer or just buy the movie. Everything Before Us had several teasers before releasing their official trailer. Each time they published a new video it was another opportunity to build buzz about the film.

You’ve probably stopped reading by now since you either have too short an attention span or one of these trailers intrigued you enough to go off and purchase the movie. If you’re still here and want more tips, check out some of my other case studies on best practices for selling videos.

Originally published at vimeo.com. Follow Vimeo on Twitter or Facebook to stay informed about future case studies. You can also follow me on Twitter or Tumblr.